Gear sets with ring gear diameter of 1000 mm to 2500 mm or even above 2500 mm commonly have pinion shanks which are longer than 1000 mm, e.g., even above 2000 mm. Today, such pinions are held in a vertical position. Upside down clamping is in most cases not possible. Long pinions are clamped on the end, opposite to the pinion head to a rotary table in vertical orientation. This positions the machining zone to the upper area of the vertical travel of a multi-axis machining center, which will deliver reduced stiffness and reduced accuracy. However, in most cases it is impossible to machine pinions with shanks larger than 1500 mm because of the vertical travel limitations of those machines.
It is known to horizontally clamp objects with curved outer surfaces, such a round elongated work pieces, utilizing a V-block (known also as “vee block”) as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,340,211 to Chiappetti or a pair of V-blocks as disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,678 to George. While such devices may be capable of clamping lengths of circular bar stock, the size of the head of a pinion may still be of a magnitude that the capability of axes travel of a multi-axis machining center will still be challenged and reduced stiffness and accuracy will continue to be of concern.